How Hijama

How is Hijama normally done?

Following the encouraging response to the video called “A Short Lesson in Hijama”, (which was orginally posted at Inflammation, your best friend and worst enemy and is now posted at Why Hijama? for easy reference), we have posted this simple video to show how hijama is normally done. Please read the introduction, disclaimer and notes that accompany the video to make an informed decision if you are considering learning, teaching or having hijama done for the first time.

The following is a video by Faridah Elimy of HijamaPlus entitled Hijama (Cupping) Demonstration, which is a simple and short video showing the stages of Hijama (Cupping).

DISCLAIMER: We have only reposted this video following requests from some of our blog followers who have never had hijama, to show them how under trained hands, with the proper equipment, and on suitable patients Hijama can be a very simple, straightforward, and virtually pain-free treatment to have done.

HOWEVER PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOMELike any therapies, Hijama should only be carried out by suitably qualified, trained and experienced competent therapists.

To find your nearest local therapist in your part of the world, try the Hijama Directory at www.hijamadirectory.info (Please note, as explained on that website, the directory is only a guide, and we do not endorse, rate or regulate the therapists listed there in any way, shape or form and we don’t as yet have the resources the do this)

Please note that before starting the treatment, a detailed consultation would be strongly advisable which covers the patients detailed medical history, and includes the taking of the patients blood-pressure, to rule out any contra-indications before starting the therapy (so again another reason why you shouldn’t try this at home)

THE TREATMENT: The above is one basic way that Hijama is done, however depending on their training and other variables like equipment availability in different parts of the world, the climate etc. individual therapists may follow a slightly different procedure to the one above.

For example:

Time

0:08 – Instead of the disposable plastic valved cups shown in the video, some therapists may use glass cups with fire to create suction (in which case strict procedures would be expected to sterilise the cups between treatments, also during treatment great care is needed not to cause burn injuries to the patient which has been known to happen sometimes with fire cupping). Please note the attaching of the cup onto the skin via negative pressure to create suction is not considered painful by most people (if anything it feels like a ‘negative massage’ in the sense that in a massage you press down on the skin, with cupping you are pulling up.) However, if the therapist was to pump out too much air from the cup, then it can gradually start to get more painful and you should quickly alert the therapist of the pain so they stop increasing the suction any further and instead release and re-apply the cup more comfortably.

0:36 – The light scratches, which should always be made with a single use, disposable blade or lancet, may be made differently by different therapists. Some may make even smaller-length scratches than the ones shown, others may make fewer or more scratches on the site of the cup. Some may even make a handful of scratches all concentrated right at the very centre of the cup site.

0:36 – 0:45 Point to note for people considering Hijama therapy but have been hesitant because of the pain factor: Under trained / experienced hands, hijama therapy can be virtually painless (unless the patient has a very low pain threshold, or is blood or needle-phobic), as is obvious from the above video: you would expect the patient to scream, squirm or wince in pain while the scratches are being made but this is clearly not the case, which, as a further point to note, only lasts about 10 seconds of the whole treatment in this particular case (ie the most painful part of the treatment, which in reality can be not very painful at all (although this can vary person to person), only lasts a few seconds of the treatment ie while the scratches are being made).

1:01 – Another variation you may find to the above is, some therapists may opt to leave the cup much longer but do only one application in total. Others may do upto 3, shorter applications.

If you are a hijama therapist, and have a different variation to the ones shown or discussed, please share them below by leaving a comment.

To see how blog followers who have had hijama described and rated the pain involved in the therapy please see the following previous post: